Five dancing angels

Five Dancing Angels from 1436 is a fragment from a larger altarpiece depicting heavenly rejoicing. Giovanni di Paolo's celestial musicians and dancers reflect the Sienese tradition of angelic imagery that stretched back to Simone Martini and the Lorenzetti brothers Oil on canvas, increasingly preferred over panel in the sixteenth century, offered greater flexibility for large-scale compositions The work is now in the collection of Condé Museum in Chantilly.

The dynamic poses of the dancing angels demonstrate Giovanni di Paolo's ability to convey movement and joy through line and gesture, with gold ground suggesting the heavenly realm.